Meat-tenderer.



No. 880,589. PATENTED MAR. 3, 1908.

J. E. SNFLLING.

MEAT TENDERER. APPLICATION FILED SBPT.26,1907.

66666, Jeaeefl %4/- a7M zm Z afiariz6aa' JESSE E. SNELLING, OF NEWARK, OHIO.

MEAT-TENDERER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 3, 1908.

Application filed September 26' 1907- Serial No. 394.737.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JESSE E. SNELLING, a citizen of the United States, residing in Newark, in the county of Licking and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements in Meat-Tenderers, of which the following is a specification.

In Letters Patent of the United States, No.

608,160, granted to me on July 26, 1898, I have shown a machine for cutting orhacking meat in such manneras to make it more tender without reducing it to fragments. In

the machine shown in such patent, two gangs of circular or disk cutters are mounted on horizontal shafts and arranged in a vertical plane between which the meat is fed. Below the disk cutters are arranged two cylindrical gangs of cutters consisting of longitudinal blades mounted on horizontal shafts just below the shafts of the disk cutters and below the longitudinal cutters are arranged two gangs of rotary cleaning and guiding blades mounted on horizontal axes and geared to turn in directions opposite to the directions in which the longitudinal blades rotate and which are adapted to prevent the meat from being carried around by the blades and to clear these blades of any meat tbat'may be adhering thereto. In this machine there is a hopper at the top into which the meat is fed an a drawer or receptacle at the bot-tom into which the meat drops after it has been acted-on by the hacking devices. The object of my present invention is to improve the machine of my former patent and to simplify it. I now dispense w th the rotary cleaning and guiding blades and I employ vertically arranged rods or wires which extend from the to of the machine to the lower ortion thereof between the disk cutters an through slots in the longitudinal blades. These rods or wires are so shaped that they form a hopper to receive the meat and they guide the meat as it asses down between thedisk cutters and the ongitudinal blades and they serve also to clean the disks and the longitudinal blades and render the use of the rotary cleaning blades of my former patent unnecessary. I also employ at the top of the machine vertically arranged combs which assist in cleaning the disk cutters. I

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows an end elevation (with the casing broken away to show part of the gearing!)l of the upper part of a meat-tendering mac 'ne embodying myim rovements. Fig. 2 shows a vertical, ongltu inal, central section thereof, on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3, some ofthe gearing being shown in section while other interior parts are shown indelevation. Fig. 3 shows a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged, detail view showing the manner of. mounting the disk cutters on their shafts. Fi 5 1s a detail view showin the manner 0 mounting the lon 'tudinal lades or cutters on their shafts.

he main casing 1 may be of any suitable construction to inclose the operative parts of the machine. A hopper is formed at the top of the machine which is provided with an o ening 4 through which the meat is fed. The opper has a hin ed lid 5 that may be readily opened and c osed.. The casing closed at front and rear. At opposite ends it is provided with removable or adjustable plates 2 and 3 which carry the bearings of the shafts 6 and 8 on which the disk cutters and longitudinal cutters are mounted. These plates are provided with slotted lugs a through which extend set screws 1) that enter sockets in the -main casing. The plates may be adjusted toward and from each other horizontally to adjust the distance between the shafts of the gangs of cutters.

The gear wheels hereinafter referred to have long teeth which permit of the desired adjustment. The circular knives'or disks 7 are mounted on the shaft 6 in such way as to hold them at proper distances apart, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and to prevent-them from turning relatively to theshafts. The disks .7 on each shaft, are. separated and spaced apart by collars 20 which are clamped on the s aft by set scre'ws28, (see Fig. 4.) Collars 26 are attached to the shaft-at opposite ends of each gang of disks and are firmly secured thereto by means of set screws 27; As shown in Fig. 2, there is a collar 26 near each end of each shaft-6, and the'disks 7 and collars 20 are held firmly in place between these collars.

secured to their shafts 8 in the manner indi-. I

cated in Fig. 5. The blades 9 are arran ed radially relatively to the axes of the sha s. At each end of each shaft 8, I secure a disk or collar 22, by means of a set screw 23. This collar has a flange 2 5 which is slotted to receive the ends of the blades and the blades are shouldered at 21 to prevent them from moving outward radially. The inner prevented from endwise may adhere thereto.

ends of the blades rest in sockets formed in the hubs of the collars.

24 indicates a radially slotted hub placed midwa between the collars at the opposite ends o the knives. blades extend through the slots in the. collars 24. By this arrangement the blades are held at proper distances apart and. are

movement or radial movement outward. The blades 9 are formed with transverse slots 10 as indicated, to receive the vertically arranged rods or wires 18. These rods or wires are arranged in the manner indicated. Their lower ends areattached to fixed, horizontal rods 30 below the shafts 8 and their upper ends are attached to rods 31 above the plane of the shafts 6. Any desired number of wires or rods 18 may be employed. Preferably a sufficient number is used to extend between each third disk 7 but obviouslythis number may be varied. 'llwo sets of rods or wires 18 are used. One set extends between the disks and through the slots of. the blades 9 on one side of the machine and the other set extends between the other set of disks and through the slots of the other blades 9 in the manner indicated in Fig. 3; The shafts 31 are somewhat wider apart than the shafts 6 and forma hopper to receive the meat fed in through the openim 4 and the wires as shown are curve in the manner indicated, being closer together between the shafts 6 and 8 than at either .the top or bottom. I may also use vertically arranged combs 32, hun from the shafts 31 and with their teet extending between the blades 7 to assist in cleaning these blades of meat that The circular cutters 7 are arranged to move in opposite directions, those portions above the shafts moving toward the center of the machine. Likewise the blades 9 move in opposite directions, those above the shafts 8 moving toward the center of the machine, the effect being to draw the material fed between the blades 7, inwardly and feed it downwardly.

The shafts Gand 8 are geared to other and a crank-handle 12 is rigidly secure to a horizontally arranged main driving-shaft 11' mounted in hearings in the frame. On the shaft 11, close to the crank but inside the frame, are secured pinions 13 and 14 which mesh respectivel with pinions 15 and 16 on the adjacent sha ts (Sand 8. The pinions 15 and 16 mesh with corresponding pinions on .the shafts 6 and 8 on opposite sides of the machine. By this arrangement of gearing, the shafts are operated to revolve in the directions indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3. Provision is made for adjusting the shafts in horizontal lanes toward and. from each other, that is to say, one of the shafts 6 and one of the shafts 8 is adjustable toward the corresponding shafts on the opposite side of .The inner ends of the.

i that t opening the machine to vary the space through which the meat passes verticall This is accomplished, as heretofore exp ained, by means of the plates 2 and 3 provided with the slotted lugs a through which the adjusting screws I) extend. A- very wide adjustment is not required but the slots and the teeth of the gear wheels may be so formed as to give any desired adjustment. The shafts may be arranged a little closer .together than shown' in Fi 3 so as to hold the edges of the opposite series of blades closer together than that shown in this figure but they should never be arranged so close together nor should they overlap to such an extent as to cut entirely through the meat fed into the machine. Care is taken that both the blades 7 and the blades 9 should out only partway through the meat, forming as at were, merely grooves therein and leaving a thin web to hold all. the parts of the meat together. The meat, when it leaves the machine, is formed with grooves arranged at right angles with each other, dividing the meat on both sides into small 8 uares or checks and yet these squares or c lGOkH are held firmly together so as not to drop apart butthe meat can be readily severed when desired. The meat, in this way, is made much tenderer, cooks better and is more eatable.

The machine may be reversed, that is to say, the meat may be fed upwardly instead of downwardly. Sometimes it may be sirable to feed only a portion of the steak throu h the cutters. t will be observed he feed opening 4 is directllyu over the blades, so that the steak may be eld in the hand of the operator and he may feed the lower ortion of the, steak between and through the cutters, then reverse the'cutters and pull the steak upwardly. out through the 4. Below the blades is a drawer 19 into which the tendered meat falls from the cutters. i I have found that by dispensing with the rotary cleaning blades 11 of my former atent and by using the wires 18, the cutting 1t into strips, two cylindrical gangs of longi-.

tudinal blades having transverse slots and arranged below the circular cutters and also arranged to cut partway through the meat without severing it into strips, gearing for driving the circular blades and the lon itudinal blades toward the center of tie machine to feed the meat inwardly and downwardly between them and vertically arranged rods or Wires extending through the slots of the longitudinal blades and between the disk cutters for guiding the meat andclearing the blades and cutters, substantially as set forth. f

2. A meat-tendering machine comprising two gangs of circular cutters arranged to out partway through the meat but not to sever it into strips, two cylindrical gangs of longitudinal blades having transverse slots, arranged below the circular cutters and also arranged to cut partway through the meat Without severing it into strips, gearin for driving the circular blades and longitudinal blades toward the center of the machine to feed the meat inwardly and downwardly between them, mechanism for driving the cutters and blades in the proper directionf adjustable plates at opposite ends of the machine carrying bearings for the shafts of the cutters and two sets of vertically arranged wires on opposite sides of the machine extending through the slots of the longilades and between the cutting.

7 JESSE E. SNELLING.

Witnesses: v

GEO. G. ADKINS, NETTIE B. CRIPPS. 

